Rebuilding Identity: The Nehemiah-Memoir and its Earliest Readers

Jacob L. Wright

Published by De Gruyter 2004

Rebuilding Identity

The Nehemiah-Memoir and its Earliest Readers

Jacob L. Wright

Volume 348 in the series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110927207

Overview
Contents

About this book

Winner of the 2008 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise!

This monograph presents a fresh and detailed treatment of the problems posed by the Nehemiah-Memoir. Starting from the pre-critical interpretations of Ezra-Neh, the study demonstrates that the use of the first-person does not suffice as a criterion for distinguishing between the verba Neemiae and the additions of later authors. The earliest edition of the Memoir is confined to a building report, which was expanded as early generations of readers developed the implications of Nehemiah's accomplishments for the consolidation and centralization of Judah. The expansions occasioned in turn the composition of the history of the "Restoration" in Ezra-Neh.

Author / Editor information

Abridged edition of a Dr. theol. dissertation completed at the Georg-August-University of Göttingen, 2003. Jacob L. Wright is now lecturer at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany.

Reviews

"Die Arbeit besticht durch gute Beobachtungen, eine klare Argumentation und ein überzeugendes Gesamtbild, das zudem gewichtige Konsequenzen für die frühe ›Second Temple Period‹ hat."
Uwe Becker in: ZAW 1/2006

"Wright's Rebuilding Identity promises a great deal and delivers even more. [...] Its scholarly sophistication is coupled with elegant formulation as Wright illustrates how the story of Nehemiah has grown into the drama of the court-Jew who discovers his own identity in a foreign land and then moves to redirect the identity and destiny of his people."

Tamara Cohn Eskenazi in JBL 124/4 (2005)

Topics

Frontmatter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	i
Foreword Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Contents Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
1. Spinoza and the Attempt to Isolate Nehemiah’s First-Person Account Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
I. In Susa – 1:1–11
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	7
2. Nehemiah’s First Prayer – 1:5–11a Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
3. The Origins of Jerusalem’s Ruins Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
4. A Prologue to the Amplified Account – 1:1b–4 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
II. From Susa to Jerusalem
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
5. Artaxerxes’ Permission to Build – 2:1–11a Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
6. The Consolidation of the Builders – 2:11b–4:17 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
7. The Intimidation of the Builder – 6:1–19 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	129
8. The Socioeconomic Reforms – 5:1–19 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
III. Additional Reforms during the Work on the Wall – 13:4–31
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
9. The Cultic Reforms – 13:4–14 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
10. The Sabbath-Reforms – 13:15–22 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
11. The Marriage-Reforms – 13:23–31 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
IV. The Dedication of the Wall (12:27–13:3) and the Formation of a New Climax (7:1–12:26)
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271
12. The Account of the Dedication Ceremonies (12:27ff.) and the Analogy of 7:1–3 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273
13. The Account of the Dedication Ceremonies and the Growth of Chaps. 7–13 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295
14. The Final Form of the Book in Neh 12:44–13:3 and Neh 8–10 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	315
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	341
Index of Biblical and Ancient Literature Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	355
Index of Modern Authors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	364
Index of Subjects Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	368

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Scholars, Libraries, Institutes
Pages
- Front matter: 13
- Main content: 372
Keywords: Nehemia; Nehemia (Buch); Textkritik; Jerusalem /Religion

eBook

Published: October 24, 2012
ISBN: 9783110927207

Hardcover

Published: November 24, 2004
ISBN: 9783110183191